GOP candidate, writer’s online exchange is heated

Kelcy Dolan
Posted 7/17/14

An online conversation between Republican candidate for mayor Stacia Petri and Jonathan Jacobs, a writer for RIFuture.org, surfaced last Friday.

The exchange occurred at almost 1 a.m. June 1 and …

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GOP candidate, writer’s online exchange is heated

Posted

An online conversation between Republican candidate for mayor Stacia Petri and Jonathan Jacobs, a writer for RIFuture.org, surfaced last Friday.

The exchange occurred at almost 1 a.m. June 1 and Jacobs immediately wrote an article keeping Petri’s identity anonymous for her own privacy.

That was before he realized she was running for office.

Jacobs wrote a follow-up article Friday, July 11 revealing Petri’s identity.

The Facebook message came after Jacobs posted an article on a supplemental excise tax on guns and ammunition. The money raised from the taxes would fund non-profit organizations committed to the reduction of crime and violence.

Petri admitted in a phone interview Tuesday she reached out to Jacobs for his “overall radical stance” on the 2nd Amendment.

Petri messaged Jacobs at 1 in the morning, writing, “The constitution has been clear for 227 years. Maybe you should grab a copy of ‘Constitution for Dummies’ (cliff note version)… maybe Barnes and Noble could special order you one.”

He returned the insult with one of his own. Saying if the constitution was clear, we would not need a Supreme Court to interpret it and make decisions. He suggested she take a GED course and asked that she would not contact him again.

Now that Petri has been connected to the messages, she commented saying the whole thing was “ridiculous.”

Petri said, “I don’t need to justify what I said in a private conversation. Jacobs proactively and deceptively made this public once he knew I was running for mayor to tarnish my character.”

She said that as a pro-2nd Amendment firearm owner, she would always work in the best interest of the 2nd amendment.

Petri said, “Things will always get heated when your discussing guns and the 2nd amendment. I admit I could have started out the conversation better.”

In Jacobs’ first article he admitted he should have ignored Petri altogether and he responded to Petri’s later “insults and threats” with some inconsiderate and rude comments. He believed, however, that his paled in comparison to Petri’s.

Petri also claimed to be a lobbyist at the State House for “tax paying citizens,” but after checking, Jacobs discovered she isn’t registered as such.

After a few lines back and forth, Jacobs said he would block Petri, a “psycho,” from messaging him again.

Petri responded, “Yeah I’ll see you at the State House, A**hole.”

Petri, in her phone interview, said she stands by her “adjective,” which is actually a noun.

When Jacobs asked Petri if he was being threatened, Petri wrote, “Do you feel threatened?? Good.”

Petri went on to say you cannot debate with “idiot liberals” because “they start whining.” She also, after being accused of being a drug addict by Jacobs (in his article Jacobs admits this was wrong to do), said, “That’s for the illegals to take care of, you know you [liberals] give them the ok.”

When asked about these messages, Petri refused to comment, saying, “I don’t want to get sucked in to this situation. It is not worth it.”

Jacobs finished his second posting, “My sense is that anyone who randomly spits venomous verbal assaults on strangers via Facebook Messenger in the dead of night…may not have the temperament to handle the highest executive office of Rhode Island’s 2nd most populous city.”

Petri said she was insulted that Jacobs would make public something they discussed privately when the two had never met before. She would be willing to clear the air. Now she wants to focus on her campaign and being proactive and engaged in the community. She wants to prepare for the primary against Mayor Scott Avedisian on Sept. 9.

To read the first and follow-up articles concerning Petri’s messages, as well as the article she responded to on the tax increase for guns and ammunition, visit www.rifuture.org.

Comments

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  • wwkvoter

    This appears to be an attempt to use a "news story" to weaken a candidate. Put this way, I would be surprised if Kelcy Dolan is a Petri supporter. Also, does anyone think that Avedisian (whom I support actually) or the other candidates hasnt used colorful language in private conversation? Also, it seems that Rob Cote has complained about a number of city council members language regarding this or that, including constitutional rights (first amendment) issues. At best, this is barely newsworthy. For best results to inform voters, Beacon should take the higher road and stick to the issues, in my opinion, and leave these gossip pieces to progressive publications such as the cited rifuture thing.

    Thursday, July 17, 2014 Report this

  • MsMayor

    RI Future.org has a very small following---they need to write garbage to keep it interesting.

    As far as the "illegals" comment that was made, that was in response to Mr. Jacobs asking Ms. Petri to: "put the needle down sugar." Ms. Petri's "illegal" response was referring to that derogatory comment.

    She had in mind the FBI investigation: "Twenty-Four Individuals Imprisoned, 12 Others Face Deportation in Sweeping Investigation Targeting Armed Drug Dealers and Gang Members

    Operation Gas Takes 15 Firearms and More Than 23 Kilograms of Heroin off the Streets of Providence, Dismantles MS-13 Street Gang." (FBI.org)

    Rhode Island, and especially the cities of Warwick & West Warwick, are facing historic heroin use and overdose death rates due in large part to illegal gang members arriving into the State of RI from Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican with ties to Mexican drug cartels.

    Ms. Petri also never claimed to be a lobbyist. She stated she would see Mr. Jacobs at the State House because she knew HE was the lobbyist. Ms. Petri would see him at the State House as she has been there on numerous occasions (as a very concerned citizen) speaking out against ridiculous proposed legislation like the ammunition tax, excessive car tax, unconstitutional Second Amendment violations against law abiding firearms owners, citizens repayment of the 38 studios bond... etc, etc...

    If the media outlets operated only on having "nice things to say" we'd all be yawning.

    I also think it's far more important to focus on the great information that Ms. Petri is repeatedly highlighting that should be concerning all Warwick citizens from across the political spectrum: the $781,991,609 grand total debt weighing on the shoulders of all Warwick taxpayers.

    Stories are "spun" and there are always two sides to every story. Remember that kids.

    Thursday, July 17, 2014 Report this

  • wwkvoter

    I just fread the previous post by "MsMayor" (wonder who that could be, Petri or her supporter?). I'll start with the last, first. "Remember that kids." How arrogant, and I tend to see that more often from the hard right. Bear in mind that the neo-conservative Bush administration gave us the Iraq invasion and its thousands of deaths, for a worse result, did nothing to curb the national debt, and whose economic advisors failed to see and avoid the mortgage industry bubble that crashed the world economy. But their national security point man, Rumsfeld (who not only drove, but then understaffed, the Iraq invasion) was just the kind of guy who would say "remember that kids." As to the claims about gangs, drugs, and illegals, well that's a complicated policy area to say the least, since the vast majority of immigrants - legal and illegal status - are NOT drug dealers or gang members. There are estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living and working in the U.S. right now. If even 10% of them were gang members (they are not), we'd notice 1.2 million! And it's way less than 1 in 10. We definately need to restrict immigration to sensible allowable numbers, and obviously to secure our borders, but beware of information from those who arrogantly make unsubstantiated "fact" declarations, and punctuate it with "remember that kids.".

    Thursday, July 17, 2014 Report this

  • MsMayor

    and to ms. Dolan.... thank you for the adjective/noun clarification. The proper addition of "ish" is noted.

    Thursday, July 17, 2014 Report this

  • MsMayor

    To "taxpayer" : the invasion currently underway at our country's southern border has our current President looking the other way. As the great Ronald Reagan once said: "A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation."

    Thursday, July 17, 2014 Report this

  • wwkvoter

    @MsMayor, you may not have seen this part of my post which attempted to respect both sides of the public policy issue of US immigration: "We definitely need to restrict immigration to sensible allowable numbers, and obviously to secure our borders..."

    Thursday, July 17, 2014 Report this

  • Iamanindependent

    This woman's posts clearly portray a person lacking intellect, temperament and character. Another vapid pharma rep with delusions of self-grandeur.

    Friday, July 18, 2014 Report this

  • Scal1024

    Pathetic story by the Beacon but another bad response from the Petri camp. Why even answer to this story? No one has heard of rifuture.org before and the Beacon should be ashamed of this garbage. You know Scottie A is in trouble when the Beacon is in full campaign mode already. Knock off the nonsense, the people of this city deserve a real debate for mayor. A debate about issues. Ms. Mayor...if you are Ms. Petri than I would also recommend not referring to yourself in the third person while running for political office. You can win this race, but you need to be more disciplined than this. You will hear a lot of nonsense in this campaign, you CANNOT respond to all of it.

    Sunday, July 20, 2014 Report this

  • imallrightjack

    Sadly, "vapid pharma rep" sounded a little shallow and insulting to me.

    Strong leader + Fearful opponents = Cowardly attacks

    Stand firm in the face of the demonic vitriol that is sure to ensue Stacia, and be that strong leader.

    Monday, July 21, 2014 Report this

  • davebarry109

    Any idiot that proposes a tax on a constitutional right does not deserve this much press.

    Tuesday, July 22, 2014 Report this